How to Protect Your Child from Identity Theft

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In 2005, five percent of the complaints the US Federal Trade Commission received regarding identity theft were from individuals younger than 18. In some cases, children in the 0-5 age group have been heavily targeted because the theft is less likely to be noticed for some time. Vulnerable to identity theft due to age, spotless records and low detection rates, 140,000 children are victims of child identity theft in the United States every year.[1]

It's another side of raising children to bear in mind so that your child isn't a victim of identity theft before they've even left home. If your child starts out with a bad credit report, it can make matters very difficult when trying to get a job, take out a car or student loan or obtaining a mortgage. Worse still, they can be harassed lifelong about debts they've never even accumulated![1] However, parents are not powerless and can take the steps outlined in this article to safeguard their child's identity.

Note: This article has a US focus due to the method of identity proof needed in the USA. However, it still pays to use any of the relevant methods here to protect your child's identity, wherever your jurisdiction.

Keep your child's important papers, including birth certificate, passport (if they have one) and social security card locked up in a safe place. Anything that has personal identifiers and could be used as identification needs to be kept safe. If you need to take these documents anywhere for proof of your child's identity, always know where they are and remember to bring them back home with you after showing them.

Never carry your child’s social security card in your wallet. Keep it in a secure place, preferably in a safe at home.

When a business asks for a social security number for your child, always ask them why they need it. In the United States, you will be asked for your child's social security number even more often than for the birth certificate. Many businesses, especially hospitals and doctors’ offices, still use social security numbers as identifiers.

Keep a record of who has the social security number of your child. Should anything untoward happen, this might help investigations into tracking down the culprit. A simple list kept with the birth certificate and social security number file will suffice; just remember to jot it down each time the number has been shared with a relevant authority.

Refuse to give out your child's birth certificate or social security number unless absolutely necessary. The use of this number should only be official or professional purposes, such as when you enroll your children in school, get them a passport, pay taxes, open financial accounts, or apply for their first driver’s license. If the number is requested by an organization or person who wouldn't normally receive the number, demand official identification and seek a valid reason for sharing it. Privacy advocates advise being skeptical when asked for the social security number when there is no apparent need for it, such as church groups and vacation camps.[1]

Make sure that any activity your child participates in uses the information properly and handles it with care. For example, it is expected that a sports institution will handle the information confidentially, as sports teams often require a birth certificate for sign up. Expect the same for clubs, associations and any other activity you sign your child up for.

Ask how the information is stored, in what format and what safeguards are in place during storage.

Ask for reassurance of the continued confidentiality of the information.

Ask them how they plan to dispose of the information after it's no longer needed. Nothing beyond proper shredding (cross-shredding with other information)[1] or return of all originals or copies is acceptable unless legislation lays out an alternative means.

Check your child's social security earnings record. Many identity thefts go undetected because parents don't assume that the child even has a credit or earnings report.[1] Requesting these regularly can allow you to get on top of theft quickly. It is recommended that you:

Request an annual Social Security Earnings record. This is the most important thing to keep track of because it can alert you if someone uses your child's Social Security to obtain a job. To request a report, call 1-800-772-1213 or visit http://www.ssa.gov/online/ssa-7004.html.

Request a free credit report each year for your child from each of the three major credit reporting companies, Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion annually. Credit agencies don't begin a credit history on an individual until particular details are used to open a credit account. This information can include name, age, address and Social Security number. Bear in mind that this check may not alert you to abuse because names and birth dates may have been changed,[1] so use the SSN check foremost.

Educate your children about safe Internet use. Teach them to keep all personal information private when they are online. Social networking sites are havens for identity thieves scanning these sites and children can innocently provide information without thinking if they haven't been alerted about what to recognize and avoid in advance.

Keep your computer virus software and defenses up to date at all times. For many people, identity theft has occurred through cyber-attacks in which the children's identifying information has been lifted from hacked computers.[1] Always keep your computer anti-virus and anti-malware programs up-to-date.

Consider not keeping anything that identifies your child in this way on a computer that accesses the internet. If you want to keep it in electronic form, keep it on a standalone computer that doesn't get connected to the internet.

Avoid posting photos of your children online. There are many good reasons for resisting doing this and this is another one, especially if geo-coding gives away the residential zone of your child.

By using this service, some information may be shared with YouTube.

In the United States, to claim a child for tax deduction, parents are required to apply for a Social Security Number for a child older than one year. Identity thieves are now using children's details because this form of identity theft often goes undiscovered for a long time.

Be alert to breaches of information at schools, health care organizations and other places where your child's identifying information has been kept. If a breach occurs, be on high alert and do all necessary checks to see if your child's identity has been compromised. The sooner that you get onto it, the faster you may be able to remedy the damage.

Unfortunately, some parents or guardians will use their child's identity to obtain credit if their own credit is ruined. This can cause the minor a lot of damage later on. Report this kind of activity, anonymously if necessary, to the FBI's Identity Theft Hot line and don't ever succumb to doing this yourself. If you need credit help, seek it from other adults trained in the financial field instead.

About This Article

wikiHow is a “wiki,” similar to Wikipedia, which means that many of our articles are co-written by multiple authors. To create this article, 20 people, some anonymous, worked to edit and improve it over time. This article has also been viewed 48,789 times.